Skip to content
LessonPrint

What Exactly Are We Fixing? is a free printable Kindergarten to Grade 2 science worksheet on defining a simple problem that could be solved, aligned to Common Core standard K-2-ETS1-1. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

All 25 sets ask different questions.

What Exactly Are We Fixing?

K-2-ETS1-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Your partner cannot hear you across the playground. What is the problem to solve?
  • A.Why playgrounds are big
  • B.Who is shouting loudest
  • C.How to get a message across a noisy space
2.The reading corner is too bright to see the screen. What is the problem?
  • A.Why the sun shines
  • B.How to block some of the light from the screen
  • C.What is on the screen
3.Which of these could a new object actually solve?
  • A.The moon changes shape
  • B.It gets dark in winter
  • C.The classroom door bangs in the wind
4.A pupil says 'make a better torch'. What is missing?
  • A.The colour
  • B.The price
  • C.What better means, and for what job
5.Before designing a signal, what do you need to know?
  • A.What colour to paint it
  • B.How far the message has to travel
  • C.Who will watch you
6.Why say who the problem affects?
  • A.So you know whether the solution actually helps them
  • B.So the list is longer
  • C.So it sounds important
7.Two people describe the problem differently. What should you do first?
  • A.Agree one problem to solve
  • B.Start without deciding
  • C.Build both ideas
8.What information would help before you build a light blocker?
  • A.Which materials let light through
  • B.Who owns the card
  • C.How heavy card is

LessonPrint · K-2-ETS1-1 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What Exactly Are We Fixing?

Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.How to get a message across a noisy space
  2. 2.How to block some of the light from the screen
  3. 3.The classroom door bangs in the wind
  4. 4.What better means, and for what job
  5. 5.How far the message has to travel
  6. 6.So you know whether the solution actually helps them
  7. 7.Agree one problem to solve
  8. 8.Which materials let light through

Questions about What Exactly Are We Fixing?

What does the What Exactly Are We Fixing? worksheet cover?

It practises defining a simple problem that could be solved — 8 questions for Kindergarten to Grade 2, all on Common Core K-2-ETS1-1: Ask, look and gather information to define a problem worth solving. The instruction to pupils is “Circle the best answer”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.

Which Common Core standard does What Exactly Are We Fixing? practise?

K-2-ETS1-1 — K-2-ETS1-1, in the Engineering Design domain for Kindergarten to Grade 2. The published standard reads: “Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.

What age or grade is this worksheet for?

What Exactly Are We Fixing? is written for Kindergarten to Grade 2, typically ages 7-8. It is one of the sheets on K-2-ETS1-1, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.

Does What Exactly Are We Fixing? come with an answer key?

Yes. All 8 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.

How many different versions of What Exactly Are We Fixing? can I print?

25 — one per pupil, and all 25 ask different questions. Set 1 downloads the whole class as a single PDF. Every version is fixed to its own address, so a sheet printed today holds the same problems when you reopen it next week.

Is What Exactly Are We Fixing? free to print and photocopy?

Yes. What Exactly Are We Fixing?, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.

Is there a lesson plan to teach K-2-ETS1-1?

Yes — “What Exactly Are We Fixing?” is a 50-minute Kindergarten to Grade 2 plan for K-2-ETS1-1, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. What Exactly Are We Fixing? is the practice that follows it.

More practice for K-2-ETS1-1

Ask, look and gather information to define a problem worth solving.

Teaching this next? What Exactly Are We Fixing? is the 50-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Kindergarten to Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to K-2-ETS1-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.